Fresh bid to halt Sh16b Mombasa gas plant flops

President William Ruto and Taifa Gas SEZ Limited Chairman Rostam Aziz during the company's ground breaking ceremony in Mombasa county. [File, PCS]

The National Environment Tribunal (NET) has dismissed a fresh bid by Likoni residents to halt the construction of a Sh16 billion liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant in Mombasa, reaffirming the legal finality of the project’s approvals.

In a unanimous ruling, a five-member tribunal bench led by Emmanuel Mumia dismissed the application filed by residents Mohamed Said and Phillip Nyiro.

The bench, which included Winnie Tsuma, Duncan Mwangi, Ronald Allamano, and David Njuguna, maintained that the dispute between the community and Tanzania’s Taifa Gas Investments SEZ Ltd had already been settled by a prior judgment.

The tribunal emphasised that the finality of its judgment is not a matter of discretion, sympathy, or convenience, but a matter of law, noting that once jurisdiction is exhausted, it cannot be revived by the form in which an application is presented, nor by invoking constitutional values beyond the Tribunal’s statutory mandate.

“The Tribunal must emphasise that the finality of its judgment is not a matter of discretion, sympathy, or convenience, but a matter of law. Once jurisdiction is exhausted, it cannot be revived by the form in which an application is presented, nor by invoking constitutional values beyond the Tribunal’s statutory mandate,” the bench headed by Mumia ruled.

The project, a 30,000-tonne capacity LPG storage facility at the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone, has been at the centre of intense litigation throughout 2025.

The applicants claimed they were unaware of previous proceedings, which concluded on January 31, 2024, and sought to reopen the case on environmental grounds.

Mohamed Said argued that previous rulings by the tribunal and Environment and Land Court (ELC) Judge Stephen Kibunja failed to address core issues of accountability.

In his supporting affidavit, Said contended that clearing the site would irreparably damage coral rocks and the local ecosystem.

“The respondent’s reliance on procedural formalities seeks to silence affected citizens and should be rejected with the firmness that constitutional justice demands,” he argued in his supporting affidavit.

However, Taifa Gas, associated with Tanzanian billionaire Rostam Azizi, accused the residents of “forum shopping” - the practice where a party in a legal dispute strategically chooses a specific court or jurisdiction (a “forum”) from several available options to file their case, aiming for the most favorable laws, procedures, rules, or potential financial outcomes - after suffering consecutive losses in both the tribunal and the ELC.

The company pointed out that the current claims were nearly identical to those dismissed in the consolidated NET Appeals Nos. 37, 41 & 46 of 2022, which were finalised in January 2024.

Supporting the tribunal’s stance, Justice Stephen Kibunja had earlier struck out a similar petition, citing the principle of res judicata—a legal doctrine preventing a matter already judged from being relitigated.

Justice Kibunja ruled in late 2025 that the petitioners were claiming under the same title as the appellants in the 2022 NET appeals.

He noted that if new environmental concerns regarding the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) license had surfaced, the proper legal path would have been a fresh appeal to the tribunal within the statutory 30-day window, rather than attempting to reopen determined cases.

The tribunal further highlighted that statutory timelines are jurisdictional. Under Section 130 of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act, the residents’ bid came nearly 22 months after the initial judgment, far exceeding the allowable period.

Taifa Gas began construction in 2023, intending to establish Kenya as a regional LPG hub. The Sh16 billion investment is expected to bolster national energy security and lower cooking gas prices.

The company maintains that it has complied with all environmental safeguards, including conducting extensive public barazas and publishing notices in national newspapers.

Taifa Gas representatives assured the court that detailed mitigation plans are in place to protect the ecosystem and ensure the project’s sustainability.

The firm operates in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, DRC, Tanzania, and South Africa. Its entry into the Kenyan market was crowded by a controversy over approvals and a tussle with squatters and landowners.

In the case, Said and Mwadoe claimed that learning will interfere with clearing the area where the storage would be built, which would interfere with the coral rock and negatively affect the ecosystem. ed concern over the fate of indigenous trees in the area.

On the other hand, Aziz’s company argued that it had done a comprehensive public participation in the area by holding public barazas and calling for views and or concerns from anyone in the country by publishing notices in the newspapers.